Monday, January 13, 2014

Surrogacy, abortion and legal limbo to feature in RTÉ documentary

An Irish couple who travelled to India to have children last year and
navigated the ethical and legal dilemmas surrounding surrogacy, are to
feature in a documentary on RTÉ television tonight.

Her Body Our Babies follows Fiona Whyte and her partner Seán
Malone from their decision to try surrogacy to bringing home their
babies Ruby and Donal to Miltown Malbay in West Clare.

Along the way, there is a glimpse of the Indian women who sign up to
carry the children of wealthy western couples and the realities of
surrogacy, including the abortion of one of the embryos, termed “foetal
reduction” at the Indian clinic where the treatment is carried out.

The Irish legal limbo into which children of a surrogate mother are born is also highlighted.

Both in their 50s and both with adult children from previous marriages,
Ms Whyte and Mr Malone had spent €30,000 on unsuccessful fertility
treatment prior to opting for surrogacy.Selected a woman

Before leaving Ireland to travel to India in January last year, they
selected a woman from whom they would receive donor eggs from the Corion
Fertility Clinic’s website.

They also selected Shobha, a married woman
with children of her own, whom they wanted to be their surrogate.

She received $6,000 (€4,400) for carrying their children and the couple paid the clinic €25,000.

The documentary, filmed and directed by Edel O’Brien and produced by
Denise O’Connor, followed the couple as they travelled to Mumbai and
visited the clinic to meet the surrogate mother.

Clinic medical director, Dr Kaushal Kadam, told them Shobha would stay at “surrogacy house” for the duration of her pregnancy.

The couple was told they had six viable embryos from the donor eggs and
Mr Malone’s sperm. The doctor explained if three were implanted and all
three were successful, they would have to “reduce by one in future” to
protect the health of the surrogate mother.

Ms Whyte and Mr Malone opted to have three embryos implanted. The remainder were frozen.

The documentary also heard from Dr Daisy Alexander, of Rizvi Law
College in Mumbai, who described the surrogacy industry, which began in
1978, as a “baby farm”.

The women and their families live hand to mouth,
she said, and see surrogacy as a livelihood. The fee they receive is
roughly 20 times what they could earn in a year.

Back in Ireland, on Valentine’s Day, the couple learned that Shobha was
pregnant and shortly afterwards, were told all three embryos were
viable.‘Foetal reduction’

At 12 weeks, a “foetal reduction” was carried out. Dr Kadam explained
via skype that a radiologist would “stop the heart of one of the babies
and allow the remaining two to continue”.

The couple also visited solicitor Marion Campbell in Dublin who told
them there was no provision in Irish law for surrogacy.

She explained
that Ms Whyte would have no legal entitlements to the children
whatsoever because she had no genetic link to them.

And Mr Malone, with his genetic link to the children, would have to
apply to the courts for guardianship of them, costing up to €10,000.

“The Irish Government needs to wake up and do something about it ,” Ms Campbell said.

In September, the couple travelled back to India for the birth. Shobha
was delivered of a boy and a girl by caesarean section. The couple
inquired of her health and were told “she’s fine”.

An emotional Mr Malone said they were upset by the doctor’s response.
They felt Shobha was “discarded”. They were refused permission to visit
her.

Six weeks later, the couple were given permission to leave India with
the babies.

The Irish Government supplied emergency documentation to
allow them come into the country, but the children remain stateless.